The Straight Facts on Video Games

Our friends over at OnlineEducation who brought us “A Day in the Internet” are back at it again with another polished infographic, this time filled with fun facts about the current state of the video game industry.

Some of this stuff you probably already know (I hear the Wii is a big seller!), but some of it surprised even me. I didn’t expect the average age of gamers to be 32, the Xbox 360 console failure rate seems a bit low (anything under 100% is a shock to me, though I suppose it’s just within the first two years) and lastly, I’m pretty stunned that M-rated games only make up 15% of all games sold. Think of all the massively selling franchises like Halo, Call of Duty, Gears of War and Grand Theft Auto. I understand that Wii Sports and Wii Play are in another league entirely in terms of sales, but I have to believe that all those other series add up to more than just 15% of the market.

About The Author

Paul

I think I'm a part of the first generation of journalists to skip print media entirely, and I've learned a lot these last few years at Forbes. My work has appeared on TVOvermind, IGN, and most importantly, a segment on The Colbert Report at one point.

BanditOne

HOORAY VIDJA GAMES!!

Madison

Here’s the thing…you know why there are no, like, 50 year old gamers? Because they didn’t grow up playing video games. We did, so there’s no reason to think we’ll stop as we age. In fact, I’d expect the average age of a gamer to steadily increase over the years.

mcnugget

this should also include the numbers for how much each console is played.

I agree with Madison, the reason “adults” are starting to play games is because the generation that was young when the NES was big are starting to get older, and so we introduce our kids to games and so on and so forth.

Just for a generational punch in the face, I wore a Mario shirt around my Grandma and she had no idea who he was.

Temmere

Didn’t some of those best-selling games come with the systems? That’s cheating.